Aurora Health Care Announces New Chief Information Officer

Aurora Health Care today announced the hiring of Preston Simons as the health care system’s new Chief Information Officer. Simons, a veteran information technology executive, will lead Aurora’s efforts using technology and innovative IT platforms and services to help it continue to deliver a high-quality, patient-centric integrated health care experience.

“With his depth of experience and proven successes in numerous aspects of corporate IT, Preston is not only seen as a highly regarded individual in the IT industry, but as a transformational visionary with a strong record of results,” said Mike Lappin, chief administrative officer for Aurora. “Aurora is constantly working to deliver the very best in health care to patients in an easy-to-access, cost-effective, convenient manner, and we know that technology and digital innovations are key in those initiatives. We’re confident that Preston’s IT knowledge, business acumen and long track record of success will help Aurora in continuing to deliver best-in-class care, when and where patients want.”

Prior to joining Aurora, Simons served as chief information officer for Abbott Laboratories for more than 10 years, where he was responsible for all aspects of the IT department which at one time had more than 4,000 employees and IT contractors. He was also accountable for many IT functions at Abbott’s spin-off AbbVie. Prior to that, he served as an IT leader in several health systems, a health insurance plan and in the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to affiliations with a number of health care IT organizations, Simons has had leading roles in the Chicago CIO Institute and other leadership summits.

“I look forward to contributing to an organization that focuses on using innovation to find better ways to provide health care and help people live well,” said Simons. “I’m excited to have the opportunity to work with Aurora leadership and professionals across the organization to use new technologies to continue to enhance the patient experience.”

Simons holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a master’s degree from the Booth School of Business, University of Chicago.